Rugby Practice

OK, so last Tuesday I went to rugby practice. I was scared and had no idea what I was doing. I have never played rugby--ever. So, we start off running around the football field passing the ball to the girl behind us. (Apparently in rugby you have to pass backwards or else its a penalty. Yes, I do realize that you are passing the ball the opposite direction of the goal but whatever rugby is hardcore). I guess I should make something clear--I hate to run. I am slow and out of shape and I just despise it. Needless to say I wasn't exactly enjoying practice yet. But a friend and I were joking with one another so that made it bearable.

Next we learned how to pass correctly. After I got the hang of it it wasn't so bad. But half way through the session something stung me at the base of my neck. To make matters worse a girl in my group decided to throw the ball to me at the same time. So of course I make an idiot out of myself by being the first person to not catch a pass in my group. I have no idea what stung me by the way. All I know is it hurt. But I was playing rugby so I had to just play it off like nothing happened and ignore the stinging sensation on my back.

Next we practiced passing while in motion. One of the most important things in this is to make sure the girl you are throwing to is paying attention. To be sure you wait until they say "ball" and then throw it to them. You can probably guess what is coming--I wasn't ready. I did not say "ball" but the girl next to me just decided she didn't want to have the ball anymore so she threw it to me. I awkwardly caught it, but it hit my right index finger hard. Apparently this jammed my finger because as I type this my right index finger is about twice as big as the left one and beautiful shades of black and blue on the back. But again I don't say anything about what happened and just continue with the rest of practice.

We learned the basic kicks of rugby (kicking is the only way, other than running, that the ball can go forward). We also learned about the scrum. There is no easy way to explain what a scrum is. Basically it is a group of girls who are awkwardly close together (if you saw it you would know) trying to get the ball for their team at the beginning of the game etc. All I can say is rugby girls have to be strong. Of course we also learned how to tackle. That was fun but I am still sore from it.

When I though practice was finally over (it went almost an hour longer than they told us it would by the way) we had to run... again! This killed me... I really hate running

The big question is will I continue? Well lets examine the rest of my night. I had a 4-5 page paper due the next day. Had I started it? Nope! But I really had no time other than after practice. When I get back to my room some random girl is in there talking to my roommate. She stays about ten minutes then leaves to go to the volleyball game. The strange thing was that my roommate has only met the girl once in passing and has no idea why she came to our room in the first place. It was all very strange. Anyways by the time I showered and got food it was 9 and I still hadn't started my paper. I got it done around 1 and got some sleep before my 8:00 class in the morning. My draft wasn't as good as I wanted it to be but it was the best I could do. My point in all this is I am not sure I have time to play rugby and do well in my classes (which is the reason I am here). So I think I have decided against rugby. But despite all the incidents I had a good time and I am glad I tried it. All the girls were so nice and helpful and I know they will have a great season!